January 25, 2011

Supreme Court agrees to hear Emanuel residency case

The state Supreme Court today said it will decide whether Rahm Emanuel can run for mayor of Chicago and ordered election officials not to print any ballots without his name.

The high court's action, which came in two separate orders today, stays Monday's appellate court decision that knocked Emanuel off the ballot on the grounds he was not a resident of Chicago.

The high court issued an order this afternoon saying it would take up the dispute over whether Emanuel meets the state requirement that a candidate for office live in a municipality for a year prior to an election, according to court spokesman Joseph Tybor.

The order states the court will take up the case on an expedited basis, using briefs the parties filed with the appellate court. There will be no additional briefs and no oral argument before the high court, Tybor said.

The order simply states that Emanuel’s petition to appeal is allowed and gives no timetable for a decision.

“The Court is taking the case on the briefs filed by the parties in the appellate court,” the order said. “No additional briefs will be filed in the Supreme Court. Oral argument will not be entertained.”

Chicago election officials said about 300,000 ballots without Emanuel's name on them had been printed before the Supreme Court order. Those ballots will be quarantined and printing was to resume this afternoon with Emanuel's name on the ballot.

“We called the printer, Lake County Press, and essentially told them, ‘Stop the presses,’ ” said Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Printing of ballots with Emanuel’s name on them will start by 2 p.m. today, he said.

“Things are changing very quickly here in an unprecedented fashion,” Neal said.

UPDATED by Jeff Coen at 12:35 p.m.with Board of Elections saying it stopped ballot printing; copy of Supreme Court order that keeps Emanuel on the ballot for now, Emanuel comment; will be updated.

The state Supreme Court today issued a stay of the appellate court order knocking Rahm Emanuel off the Chicago mayoral ballot and ordered election officials not to print any ballots without his name.

The one-page order does not mean the Supreme Court has agreed to hear Emanuel's appeal of the lower court ruling that could end his run for mayor. It only stops Chicago election authorities from going ahead with their plans to begin printing up to 2 million ballots for the Feb. 22 mayoral election without Emanuel’s name.

“We called the printer and said, ‘Stop the presses,’” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. “And, at the same time, told them we’ll start printing again as soon as possible” with Emanuel’s name on the ballot.

Printing of the ballots, without Emanuel's name, had begun this morning at a facility in Lake County.

The high court order came about 24 hours after the 2-1 appellate court decision that Emanuel does not meet residency requirements to run for office because he was in Washington for the last year as chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

The high court said it was still considering whether to grant Emanuel's request that it hear his appeal on an expedited basis.

“It is ordered that the emergency motion by petitioner Rahm Emanuel for stay pending appeal is allowed in part,” the order stated. “The appellate court decision is stayed.

"The Board of Elections is directed that if any ballots are printed while this Court is considering this case, the ballots should include the name of petitioner Rahm Emanuel as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Chicago.

"That part of the motion requesting expedited consideration of the petition for leave to appeal remains pending," said the order.

Emanuel's lawyers filed the appeal this morning.

At a news confererence this morning before the Supreme Court action, Emanuel said he is "confident in the argument we are making" in the appeal and he is "more determined than ever" to see it through.

"I believe (voters) deserve the right to make that choice, to say yes or no and nobody else," Emanuel said.

Posted by Jeff Coen at 10:12 a.m.

Lawyers for Rahm Emanuel today filed their appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court asking to have him restored to the Chicago mayoral ballot.

The document asking for the high court to step into the matter comes after Monday’s appellate court ruling stripping Emanuel’s name from the Feb. 22 ballot. Emanuel lawyer Kevin Forde said the document was filed in Springfield and Chicago this morning.

It's not certain that the high court will agree to Emanuel's petition to hear his case -- if they decline to take up the issue, Emanue's bid for mayor would suffer a likely fatal blow.

Emanuel's attorneys are already waiting for an answer from the state's highest court on their request for a stay of the appellate court ruling, which could help them stop city election authorities from going ahead with plans today to print ballots without Emanuel's name.

The 2-1 appellate decision said Emanuel does not meet residency requirements that he be a city resident for a year before an election.

The document pleading for the high court to take up the case calls the appellate court decision “one of the most far-reaching election law rulings ever to be issued by an Illinois court, not only because of its implications for the current Chicago mayoral election but also for the unprecedented restriction that it imposes on the ability of numerous individuals to participate in every future municipal elections in this state.”

The standard put in place for residency by the appellate court is so restrictive, two presidents from Illinois – Obama and Lincoln – would have found their ability to run for local office cut off by it, Emanuel's lawyers argue in the filing with the state's highest court.

Emanuel’s lawyers cite six “fundamental reasons” the lower court decision should be reversed.

The ruling is “squarely inconsistent” with prior high court decisions on residency; the restrictive view of the majority has no precedent; the ruling infringes on the rights of those in Emanuel’s situation to vote; there should only be one legal definition of “resided in” in state and municipal code; the new appellate court residency requirement creates too much uncertainty for candidates going forward; and it strips candidates of the provision that government service does not have a negative impact on residency.

The document cites dissenting Appellate Judge Bertina Lampkin’s view that the majority failed to define its new standard for what it means for a candidate to “reside in” a place before an election.

A businessman called away for a monthlong trip could become ineligible to run for office, as could members of Congress who go to Washington.

Emanuel should be exempted from a residency challenge because he was in service to the country as White House chief of staff, the lawyers contend.

“Certainly President Obama does not meet the standard adopted by the two Justices, because he does not ‘actually reside’ in Chicago,” the lawyers wrote.

Monday's decision was the first major setback for Emanuel, who has a wide lead over his opponents in fundraising and the Tribune's mayoral poll.

Comments

We here outside of Chicago can only note that the resentment against the Democratic party, as led by Obama and Emmanuel, has peaked since the Obama Administrations publicized sweep up of Mob figures in the news of late. We clearly see which posters are on the side of corruption in Chicago.

He did reside in Chicago. That is what is confusing people. There is a legal difference between lived and resides. I know people in general don't understand that, but an Appellate Court judge should have.

When we work in DC, for our government, we still reside in the district that we came from. It has been that way for all time. DC is a district, not a state.

Emanuel decided on his own free will to RESIDE in Washington, DC for a couple of years. This Chicago mayor job comes open, and he decides to run.

But wait, the law says he must RESIDE in Chicago. But I paid property taxes on a property in Chicago, argues Emanuel. Who actually resided at that property? Not Emanuel, he has a tenant who lives there. The tenant RESIDES at that address.

I wonder if Emanuel actually paid Illinois income tax for those two years he lived in Washington DC. He claims now to have resided in Chicago.

I am on Active Duty in the Army. If I got out of the Army tomorrow, and went back home to Illinois, I would NOT expect to be eligible to run for mayor if the rules state I had to RESIDE IN the city for one year prior to running. Because I have NOT RESIDED IN the city. I may have been an Illinois RESIDENT, but I have not physically RESIDED there.

Wouldn't it be funny if Forrest Claypool or Tom Dart mounted a campaign as a write-in candidate now? Then Chicago may have a decent pool of candidates to choose from. Right now, the only pallatable one left is Chico...

To serve your country is when you are in military status. What Emanuel was doing was a job in Washington like anyother job. If the law say you must reside in the city for 1 year why this guy think he can over rule the law. Emanuel you were ruled out then you are out.

Please don NOT confuse the work done by our military the same as the job Rahm has done. There is NO comparison. The people in the military voluteer to be in the military and protect the American citizens and our freedoms - they collect stipens for their work. Rahm is a HIGHLY paid employee of the government that did not randomly volunteer for that postion he held in Washington. He is NOT a resident. If you ask me, he did more to hurt this country and harm our freedoms than support the constitution of the United Sates of America. Just based on his poor judgement and political experience the last couple of years, he should NOT be allowed on the ballot.

Let the people decide on who they want! It's a fine time to be particular about residency especially when you have city workers which do not live in the city working those jobs that have residency rules. Are we to open up that can also?

Well when you are daley's hand picked successor what would you expect? Rahm will see that daley's dream of selling off everything public to private corporations is complete. Rahm will surely make daley look like a boy scout and al capone look like a saint. Good luck with that.

All of these people who say Rahm does not meet the "law" need to educate themselves as to what the law is on residency in Illinois. Rahm meets the standard that has been used here for more than a century. Stop parroting each other and the conservative media and learn to think for yourselves. It is amazing (and ironic) how anti-democratic and supportive of judicial activism you can be when you put your mind to it...

You folks that say he has residency do no understand what that means. You have to physically be here. you do know what physically means right. Let me explain for those who are so blinded by love of Obama and Emanuel. Physically means that in short. YOUR FEET HAVE TO BE ON ILLINOIS SOIL..... not washington d.c. dirt...... is it clear now.... They ( the illinois supremes) will ignor the law. but, that is what it means...

Can people stop saying politicians have special needs because they "serve our country!?" Serve? Really? They make how much money? They break how many laws? They don't serve anything. Work for FREE and I'll consider it "serving the public."

It's a job. Not a service. He wasn't "Called" to serve in DC. He was offered a job and took it. Goodbye Chicago, he says. And now, since it's a huge advantage to him and Obama to hold more power as a team, he wants to take over Chicago. Sorry buddy, you can't do as you please.

If I have to live by your ridiculous laws, so do you. And this particular law requirement, is a SIMPLE ONE. You missed out. Run for election next time if you please. But make sure you live in Chicago a measly 12 months prior...

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

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